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| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4054 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes  Studies: German | Message 1 of 6 05 May 2020 at 7:07pm | IP Logged |
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FOR REPOSTING TO THE “A LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ FORUM” (LLORG)
During the period from February 2020 through May 2020, I conducted a complete revision to the twenty-eight (28) lists of resources which I had posted on the LLORG during the previous three-year period. As revising these types of documents directly on the LLORG in the “Edit Mode” is fraught with difficulties, I removed their contents from the LLORG, stored them on my computer, and completed the revisions. During the revision process an event occurred which prevented me from reposting the contents to their original files and, as a contingency measure, I have posted them here on the HTLAL in the anticipation that either the Administrator or the Moderators of the LLORG will copy/paste them to the LLORG. - Speakeasy INTRODUCTION Separate Sections For ease of consultation and maintenance, this presentation has been separated into five sections: Introduction, Farsi resources, Dari resources, Tajik resources, Two reminders. Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) Language Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. It is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian, Dari Persian (officially named Dari since 1958) and Tajiki Persian (officially named Tajik since the Soviet era). It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivation of Cyrillic … Tajik or Tajiki, also called Tajiki Persian, is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by Tajiks. It is closely related to neighboring Dari Persian with which it forms a continuum of mutually intelligible varieties. -- Source: Wikipedia Persian (Farsi) Overview: ProfArguelles In February 2005, ProfArguelles posted the following Persian (Farsi) overview on the HTLAL [much appreciation to member jonm for the reformatted text]: Although I have a passionate love for and attachment to many languages, still, if I were pressed to choose one all time favorite, it would probably be Persian. Indeed, “Ardaschir” is the name of the poet-philosopher-king who founded the Sassanian dynasty in 226 AD and it is the Middle Persian version of the Old Persian “Artaxerxes,” which is perhaps a bit more familiar to readers of Herodotus. Although I have never yet had the privilege and the challenge of conversing in it, and although I still have a ways to go before I will be able to read it with the same speed and facility that I can read most European languages, still I have already attained my main goal of being able to access its literature in the original with both pleasure and understanding, so I am in a position to offer some information that may be useful in providing a language profile for users of this site. Where to begin? Well, there is little consensus on the number of speakers that this language has, and two main internet sources of linguistic information, Ethnologue and Wikipedia, differ by more than 50 million in their estimates, the former giving it a paltry 22 million, the later 75 million. Elsewhere I have even seen figures exceeding 100 million, but the majority of claims are in the region of 50-60 million. In any case, Persian is the national language of Iran and all educated Iranians know it through their schooling, but it is actually only the native language of about 1/3 to 1/2 of the population, the rest speaking various smaller Iranian languages or indeed major Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani as their mother tongues. Persian is also an official language of Afghanistan, where it is known as Dari, and of Tajikistan, where it is known as Tajiki (and where it is written in Cyrillic instead of Arabic script). In centuries past it was the official, court, or literary language of many more places ranging from Turkey through India. Persian is sometimes called “the French of the East” in reference to its semi-classical status and its role as an international vehicle of thought and communication and, after Arabic, there is no doubt that it is the 2nd most important language in all of Islamic civilization. As a cultural vehicle it is certainly one of the oldest and most important languages in all of history, and it is often claimed that there is more literature, or at least more poetry, in Persian than in any other language. Although there is no way to verify such a claim, anyone familiar with the literary history and tradition of the language can understand why it is made, and Western poets of the stature of Goethe have acknowledged the preeminence of its masters. The most wonderful and important thing is that all of its literary gems produced down the centuries are accessible to any modern learner of the language, for although it changed a great deal over the first 2,500 years of its 3,500 year documented history, it has changed extremely little in the past 1000+ years. Thus, anyone who can read a modern story is also in a position to read the classical literature of the golden age of roughly 800 – 1200 AD. Well, how hard is it to learn Persian? Speakers of Arabic, which has had a formative influence on Persian, and speakers of Turkic, Indic and other languages upon which Persian has in turn had a formative influence will find much that is very familiar and thus for them learning Persian should be on the easy side of linguistic chores. For speakers of English or of any other European language, however, for all that Persian shares their common Indo-European roots, it is very much an exotic language belonging to another cultural circle, and learning such a language is always a different game altogether from learning another language that shares both a common culture and a common root. That said, as far as exotic languages are concerned, for speakers of English and other European languages, Persian is probably one of the least difficult. Phonetically speaking I do not believe Persian to be challenging for speakers of any European language – depending on your precise background, there may be a trouble spot here or there, but I do not think there are any sounds in Persian that are not found in most of the major European languages. Grammatically speaking, Persian is “objectively” a very easy language – that is to say, if we could put all the formal grammar (rules and exceptions to rules, charts, tables, paradigms, etc.) of various languages on cards of the same size, Persian would require far fewer than the overwhelming majority of natural languages. Persian has evolved very far from its highly inflecting Indo-European roots, as much so or perhaps even more than has English in the West. Grammatical gender is completely gone (no separate pronouns for he and she), and while there are different verb endings according to person and number, this dispenses with the general use of pronouns. The only outstanding irregularity in the language is that most common verbs use different roots altogether in the present and in the past. All told, getting a basic grasp of the structure of the language should be a comparatively easy task for anyone, no matter what their background. When it comes to vocabulary acquisition, Persian’s Indo-European roots can immediately be felt in its very core vocabulary, especially names of close family members, personal pronouns, and numbers. However, after that and apart from modern French loan words, things are really pretty foreign. I don’t want to give a false statistic for the percentage of Arabic loan words in Persian, but it is extremely high, in the range of 50% and perhaps even more. Even the native Indo-Iranian words have a long and separate developmental history that generally masks their relationship to European words. So, unless you know Arabic, you really do have a lot of words to learn before you can begin to find your way around in Persian, though there is nothing particularly difficult about the task – indeed, one of the reasons I love this language is that I find that its words often sound to my ears marvelously as if they “should” mean pretty much what they do mean, and I never had to have any recourse to outright memorization, but built up my lexicon by first internalizing recorded dialogues and then through extensive reading. I cannot give a blanket answer for roughly how many hours it would take to gain a decent fluency in spoken Persian, for that really depends on your linguistic background, your general degree of language-learning experience, and how intensively and intelligently you work at it, but I can say that (again unless you already known Arabic), you can certainly be speaking Persian well long before you can hope to read it rapidly. All in all, if gaining oral communicative skills in Persian is probably an “easy” task considering that it is an exotic language, attaining literacy is unfortunately a much harder one. Why? Because Persian uses the Arabic alphabet, which shows consonants only and not vowels. This kind of alphabet is appropriate for a vowel-poor Semitic language with a root-consonantal basis and regularly recurring lexical structure, but it is not so well suited to Indo-European languages like Persian, which have more vowels and lack this kind of basic structure. Although it facilitates reading, writing Persian is further complicated by the fact that Arabic has far more sounds than Persian, namely different kinds or qualities of t’s, d’s, z’s, s’s, and the like. Persian has kept the original Arabic spelling in the words that it has borrowed, but it has leveled all these sounds into only one variant, with the result that there are many different ways of representing the same sound. Furthermore, I have since discovered that while Arabic texts for general consumption are not written with vowels, books for children and adolescents, as well as important classical texts and a good many serious modern scholarly texts, do have them. In contrast, I have never found a single Persian text, not even one for very young children, that has its vowels written in. Without the vowels, you get the outline of a word only, not its full sound, so you may learn to recognize what a given shape means in a given context, but you won’t know how to pronounce it correctly and so add it to your active vocabulary. Once you do know how a given word sounds, writing it in this way is not a problem, but it is hard indeed for non-natives who do not get these sounds from their living environment. I can barely fathom how autodidacts got over this hurdle in the past, but happily in our day and age, you can surmount it the same way that I did, namely by listening to ample quantities of recorded materials while simultaneously reading the written text. One of the easiest and best things about learning Persian is that, because of its rich cultural and literary heritage, there is not only much learning material available for it, there is also a considerable amount of textual material recorded for native speakers that you can purchase in the form of CD-ROM’s. I have learned to read Persian as well as I have by acquiring and listening to dozens and dozens of hours of Firdousi’s epic Shahname, the Boostan and the Gulistan of Sa’di, and the poems of Hafez and Rumi while simultaneously looking at the texts. Apart from its own inherent value, I would most heartily recommend Persian to any would-be polyglot as perhaps the ultimate gateway language. A knowledge of Persian would certainly open the door to all other living Indo-Iranian languages such as Pashto, Kurdish, and Baluchi, as well as the various and sundry minority languages of Iran, many of which are probably just non-standardized Persian dialects. In fact, there is such a dearth of materials for studying any of these other languages that I imagine going through a solid knowledge of Persian would be your only way to get at them. You can also swim backwards diachronically to get at Pahlavi or Middle Persian, which is not all that different from Modern Persian, though it lacks its infusion of Arabic words and is written in a different script, and then further back to Old (Western) Persian proper, the language of many extant historical inscriptions and the direct ancestor of Modern Persian or to Avestan or “Old Eastern Persian,” the language of Zoroaster and the Zend Avesta, which is extremely close to Sanskrit. Persian does not just open the door to other Indo-Iranian languages, but also to languages from other families such as Urdu, Turkish, and Armenian, into all of which it has poured its influence over the centuries. Persian even paves the path to Arabic, for it is much easier to learn and although this is in a certain sense swimming against the tide as well, if you learn Persian first, you will build up a considerable storehouse of Arabic words—and not just because Persian has borrowed from Arabic, for although there is a massive lexical trade imbalance between the two languages, still Persian probably has the honor of being the single largest source of foreign loan words in Arabic, which is traditionally a very purist language. As I mentioned above, there is a great amount of learning material, much of it high quality for the study of Persian. Far and away the best book for getting started is Farhad Sobhani’s “Persisches Lehr- und Lesebuch” (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1962), which was still available from Amazon.de last time I checked, and which comes with some invaluable if not lengthy recorded material as well. Another great way to get started would be with Assimil’s “Le Persan sans Peine” (Dominique Halbout et Mohammed-Hossein Kareini, 2003), which, once edited as I described in another post, has over two hours of very high quality dialogues, albeit spoken throughout in a rather all too clear and lugubrious didactic pace. Abi Rafiee’s “Colloquial Persian” (Routledge, 2001) teaches contemporary Tehrani, also with good but short tapes. Both Bozorg Alavi & Manfred Lorenz “Langenscheidts Praktisches Lehrbuch, Persisch” and Wheeler S. Thackston “An Introduction to Persian” (Ibex, 1993) provide extremely thorough and complete guides to the language suitable for those with some academic linguistic background. The latter even comes with tapes, but although they are 9 in number (and cost about $90), they are redundantly recorded with asinine instructions such as “listen, but don’t repeat… now listen and repeat” and long silent gaps, so that if you rerecord the useable materials in a more user friendly fashion, you get less than a single hour all told. Another classic reference is Lambston’s “Persian,” and even more comprehensive, and far more interesting as its texts are more literary in nature, is W. St. Caire Tisdall’s somewhat inappropriately named “Modern Persian Conversation Grammar,” originally published over a century ago but still generally available. These older works are really indispensable for serious students, but they must be used with a bit of caution. I wrote above that Persian has changed very little in the past 1200 or so years, but it has changed in one important respect at some point within the past 50-odd years. Persian etiquette used to forbid the use of 1st and 2nd person pronouns, mandating such substitutes as “your slave” in the first case and “your Excellency” in the second, and however rude and offensive the sound of “I” and “you” might have been in the past, surely these locutions would sound even more absurd in today’s Iran. Well, if you can persevere through some or all of these courses and make it to the intermediate level, you will find that bilingual books are not rare things in Persian, and also that a wide variety of Persian Readers have been published over the decades, and though most of them are now out of print, they are probably readily available in used book shops and in libraries. Of such books that are in print, Michael Hillmann has published a number with Dunwoody Press, all of which come with accompanying recordings; the one I am most familiar with being his “Persian Fiction Reader” of short stories written since the Revolution, which is indeed excellent, though the sound quality of its tapes is disappointing. Better yet, if you can acquire and access it, is К.И. Поляков и А.А. Носырев «Учебник персидск 86;го языка, основной курс» (Издатель 089;кий Дом «Муравей-Г&# 1072;йд» Москва, 2000), which comes with close to four hours of interesting readings recorded in a high-quality format. At the back of this book are advertisements for similar beginning courses by the same authors which are probably of the same quality. To close, my thoughts about the name of this language: it has always been known as Persian, and in scholarly circles it still is, but for some reason in the past few decades it has become increasingly common to call it Farsi, which is indeed the Persian word for “Persian.” However, I think we would all agree that it would sound both stupid and pretentious, when speaking English, to say “I know Deutsch so well that I can read Nederlands too and even understand some Svenska and Dansk, and I’m also pretty good at Français and Español, and now I’m starting to learn Русский.” Why should a different standard apply for Persian? It shouldn’t and it doesn’t and it really sounds just as odd to call Persian Farsi, though you are certainly not to blame if you do it because that is what you have always heard others doing. I don’t know what force is driving this change, and the only justification for it that I can imagine would be sensitivity to the feelings of native speakers if they for some reason objected to the use of Persian, but I don’t believe that they do. Visit online bookshops and other sites both in Iran and abroad and you will see that they regard themselves as purveyors of Persian literature. To quote from the online Wikipedia: “Persian, the more widely used and official name of the language in English, is the Hellenized form of the native term Parsi. Farsi is the Arabicized form of Parsi and its use in the English language is very recent. Native Persian speakers typically call it "Parsi" in modern usage… The Academy of Persian Language and Literature as well as most linguists and lexicographers, believe that "Farsi" is not the appropriate term used for the Persian language in English. "Farsi" is actually the Arabicized form of "Parsi", due to a lack of the /p/ phoneme in Standard Arabic…” So, if anyone has any legitimate reason for using the new term, please provide it for discussion. If not, let’s drop the Farsi business once and for all, get rid of references to it on our site (administrator, please begin by changing the name of this topic), and try to encourage others to use the correct term: Persian. – Source: HTLAL (Professor Arguelles: “Persian (Farsi) overview”) – Persian: Discussions of Differences/Similarities What is the difference between Farsi, Tajik and Dari? Are they mutually intelligible? – Quora - October 2016 Dari vs Farsi - LLORG - August 2017 How similar are Tajik and Iranian Persian (Farsi) - LLORG - July 2019 Farsi, Pashto, Dari - HTLAL - January 2012 Persian, and why you can’t learn to speak it - LLORG - March 2016 Persian, Kurdish, Pashto-anyone studying? - HTLAL - December 2013 Latest Persian resources? - HTLAL - January 2009 Persian resources - LLORG - June 2016 Persian/Farsi materials – HTLAL - November 2011 Similarities between Urdu and Persian - LLORG - March 2017 Persian: General Discussions Study Group “Team Middle East” (includes Farsi) – LLORG – October 2016 to the present Prospective students of Persian are encouraged to read through the discussions as they contain valuable information on the language, resources for studying it, and members’ experiences. Persian (Farsi) overview - HTLAL - February 2005 So you want to learn a language - Specific languages - Persian Assimil Persian opinions - LLORG - September 2015 Looking for Dari language materials - HTLAL - August 2017 Persian, Kurdish, Pashto-anyone studying - HTLAL - December 2013 Why do Persian speakers think their language has no stress - LLORG - July 2019 Beginning Persian: how and where to start? – HTLAL - December 2013 [ Persian definite and indefinite articles, or lack thereof - LLORG - August 2019 Persian Plan of Action - LLORG - October 2018 Persian-Farsi materials - HTLAL - November 2011 Turkish or Iranian TV Shows - LLORG - February 2016 Who here has actually learned Persian to a high level (B2)? - LLORG – June 2018 Persian Resources: General Although many sources suggest that Farsi, Dari, and Tajik are mutually-intelligible varieties of Persian, given that some publishers and institutions have chosen to differentiate amongst these by assigning them specific variant names, this list of resources has done likewise. That is, as much as possible, the resources presented below have been separated into three sections, one each for Farsi, Dari, and Tajik. Resources identified simply as Persian have been included in the section Persian-Farsi. IMPROVING THIS FILE? Please feel at liberty to post your own recommendations and/or comments and I’ll see what I can do about incorporating them into the lists above. SUBSEQUENT COMMENTS Visitors to this file are encouraged to review the subsequent comments, posted below, as they include members’ suggestions concerning materials and form a running commentary on resources for the study of this language. EDITED: Completely revised: April 2020 Edited by Speakeasy on 05 May 2020 at 7:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
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PERSIAN-FARSI
PERSIAN-FARSI RESOURCES: LEGACY Persian-Farsi Courses, Supplements, etc. DLI Persian courses (1960s – 1970s) Under review and reconstruction. FSI Persian Basic (1963), 398 pages, by Serge Obolensky et al; Spoken Language Services Introductory course in spoken Persian. For classroom use. Developed on behalf of Foreign Service Institute. Audio-lingual method. Approx. 7-1/2 hours of AUDIO recordings. Persian texts transliterated for English speakers. In 1973, Spoken Language Services published a reprint of “FSI Persian Basic” entitled “Spoken Persian”. Modern Persian: Elementary Level, Vol. 1 (rev. 1981), 377 pages Modern Persian: Elementary Level – AUDIO – University of Michigan LRC / FLACS Modern Persian: Intermediate Level, Vol. 1, 2, 3 (1979), circa 790 pages in total By Gernot Windfuhr et al.; published by University of Michigan. For classroom use. Audio-lingual method. Standard Tehran colloquial pronunciation. Includes substantial AUDIO recordings: (1) in the past, CDs were available for purchase from the University of Michigan LRC; however, (2) a couple of years ago, the university initiated a project for the digitization and free online access to these files. At present, only a sample available (see link above). Anyone interested in recovering the audio recordings should contact the university. Spoken Persian (1973), 398 pages, by Serge Obolensky et al; Spoken Language Services Introductory course in spoken Persian. For classroom use. Developed in 1963 on behalf of Foreign Service Institute. Audio-lingual method. Approx. 7-1/2 hours of AUDIO recordings. Persian texts transliterated for English speakers. In 1973, Spoken Language Services published a reprint of “FSI Persian Basic” entitled “Spoken Persian”. Out-of-print. Copies can still be found on the internet. Only one Amazon customer review (2000): very positive. U.S. Peace Corps Introductory Persian (1966), 392 pages, by Donald L. Stilo Elementary course in spoken Persian. Persian texts transliterated for English speakers. Classroom use. No audio recordings. PERSIAN-FARSI RESOURCES: CONTEMPORARY Persian-Farsi Courses, Supplements, etc. Accelerated Persian (2010), 440 pages, by Rebecca Joubin; Ibex Publishers Comprehensive introduction to spoken Persian. Ample exercises and drills in support of grammatical explanations. Includes colloquial Persian. No mention of audio recordings. Possibly meant for classroom instruction. Presently, no reviews on Amazon. Assimil Le persan (sans peine) (2012), 816 pages, by Dominique Halbout et al. Introduction to spoken Persian through a succession of circa 100 dialogues accompanied by notes. Approx. 3-1/2 hours of AUDIO recordings. Amazon.FR customers average 4.5 stars. Beginner’s Persian (2018), 248 pages, by Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami; Hippocrene Books Introduction to spoken Persian. Two hours of AUDIO recordings freely available on publisher’s website. CEFR A1+. Amazon customer reviews generally favourable. Colloquial Persian (3rd ed., 2015), 496 pages, by Abdi Rafiee; Routledge Colloquial Persian: AUDIO Recordings - Routledge website Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature: meets minimal communication needs. CEFR A0. Includes 2 hours of AUDIO recordings, freely available via publisher’s website. Well-received by Amazon customers. Complete Modern Persian, (2010), 336 pages, by Narguess Farzad; Teach Yourself Books Staple CEFR A1 course. Includes 2 hours of AUDIO recordings. Mostly positive reviews on Amazon. Contemporary Spoken Persian: Book 1, includes 8 CDs (1986), 136 pages Contemporary Spoken Persian: Book 2, includes 8 CDs (1996), 119 pages By Mehdi Marashi; published by University of California at Berkeley. Introduction to spoken/colloquial Persian. For self-instruction. Persian script is not introduced, text is entirely in transcription. Includes approx. 16 hours of AUDIO recordings. Presently, only two Amazon customer reviews; both very positive. DLI GLOSS Farsi Collection of graded exercise sets for supplemental practice (reading, aural, occasionally videos). Free access. DLI Headstart2 Persian-Farsi Familiarization language course. First half, civilian oriented. Second half, mission oriented. CEFR A0+ Easy Persian Online lessons in Persian. Farsi Complete Course: A Step-by-Step Guide and a New Easy-to-Learn Format (2017) Farsi Complete Course, Vol. 1 (Beginner) (2017), 174 pages Farsi Complete Course, Vol. 2 (Intermediate) (2017), 208 pages By Reza Nazari et al.; Independently published. Two-part course in spoken Persian. Self-instruction. Persian texts transliterated. Probably CEFR A2. At present, three Amazon customer reviews: two very negative, one very positive. Farsi Conversations: Learn the Most Common Words and Phrases Farsi Speakers use Every Day (2017), 542 pages, by Reza Nazari and Somayeh Nazari Farsi Conversations: Book Farsi Conversations: Online Amazon “Look Inside” feature: collection of short dialogues, or exercise sets, for supplemental practice. Farsi texts presented BOTH in transliteration and in Farsi script. Possibly CEFR A1-A2 range. At present, only two Amazon customer reviews: 5 stars. Farsi (Persian) for Beginners: Mastering Conversational Farsi (2015), 160 pages, by Saeid Atoofi; Periplus Editions Elementary self-instructional course in Farsi. Dialogues and narratives about a family traveling to contemporary Iran. Persian texts in BOTH transliteration and in Farsi script. Includes two hours of MP3 AUDIO recordings. CEFR A0-A1. Well-received by most Amazon reviewers. Farsi (Persian), the Language of Iran: A Tutorial Book for Beginners (3rd ed., 2007), by Abbas Yamini Sharif; Ravesheno Publications Elementary course in spoken Farsi. Self-instruction. English transliteration and pronunciation keys. No mention of audio recordings. At present, no Amazon customer reviews. Glossika Persian Introduction to Persian, An (4th ed., 2009), 324 pages Introduction to Persian: Key to Exercises, An (4th ed., 2009), 50 pages Introduction to spoken Persian. Exercises, drills, notes on grammar. Explanations of differences between modern and classical Persian. Ordinary colloquial Persian described. Nine (9) AUDIO CDs included. Amazon customer reviews largely positive. Laugh and Learn Farsi (2014), by Gholamreza Nazari; Independently published Laugh and Learn Farsi (Book 1): 100 Jokes in Farsi (2014), 76 pages Laugh and Learn Farsi (Book 2): Mulla Nasreddin Tales, (2016), 242 pages Laugh and Learn Persian Idioms (2014), 80 pages Supplemental materials for self-instruction. Colloquial usage. No mention of audio recordings. Amazon customer reviews mostly positive. Learn Persian (Farsi) – Tarid.net Online. Elementary Farsi Learn Persian: Farsi Step by Step, Level 1, Absolute Beginner, (2018), 186 pages Learn Persian: Farsi Step by Step, Level 2, Beginner, (2018), 202 pages Learn Persian: Farsi Step by Step, Levels 1 and 2, Complete Beginners, (2018), 324 pages By Fruzan Seifi; Independently published. Elementary spoken Persian. Self-instruction. Dialogues, exercises, and brief explanations of grammar. Includes AUDIO recordings. CEFR A1+. To date, only a few Amazon reviews: uniformly positive. Learning Persian (Farsi): Book One (2007), 208 pages, by Simin Mohajer et al.; Ibex Publishers Learning Persian (Farsi): Books Two and Three (2007), 284 pages, by Simin Mohajer et al.; Ibex Publishers Introduction to spoken Persian. Written entirely in Persian script. Both books include one AUDIO CD. Likely CEFR A2-B1. Amazon customer reviews for Book 1 (none for Books 2,3) vary widely. The negative reviewers expressed their surprise and disappoint that the books are entirely in Persian script. Manuel de persan V1 (3rd ed., 2012), 336 pages, by Hossein Esmaili, Christophe Balay; L’Asiathèque Available in FRENCH only. Modern Persian, Elementary Level: Like a Nightingale (2019), 250 pages, by Iago Gocheleishvili; Anthem Press Basic spoken Persian. For both classroom use and self-instruction. Companion website: a plethora of audio and video exercises, answer key, dictionary with audio files. Modern Persian: Spoken and Written, Vol. 1 (2005), 544 pages Modern Persian: Spoken and Written, Vol. 2 (2005), 560 pages By Donald L. Stilo, Kamran Talattof, and Jerome W. Clinton; published by Yale University Press Comprehensive course up to intermediate level. Spoken and written Persian plus an introduction to colloquial Persian. For classroom use. Samples of the course materials (printed, audio) are available via the Yale University Press website. Currently, only a few Amazon customer review: mixed and bear close reading. NFLC (National Foreign Language Center) Persian - University of Maryland Collection of graded exercise sets for supplemental practice (reading, aural, occasionally videos). Similar to DLI GLOSS. Access: US$ 5.00 monthly subscription. Parler persan / Persan sans peine; Parstoday / Radio Iran Available in FRENCH only. Online course in basic Persian: 160-plus conversations in Persian and French. Downloadable AUDIO in MP3 format. CEFR A1-A2. Positive comments from LLORG members. Persian Deeeee… by Mohsen Mahdavi Mazdeh Online. Lessons in basic Persian. Persian Language Online; Iran Heritage Foundation Online. Conversations and exercises in Persian and English. Freely downloadable AUDIO in MP3 format. Persian Learner Part One: Elementary (2017), 220 pages Persian Learner Part Two: Elementary (2017), 216 pages Persian Learner Part Three: Intermediate (2017), 244 pages Persian Learner Part Four: Advanced (2018), 232 pages By Peyman Nojoumian; published by UCI Jordan Center for Persian studies. Comprehensive course in spoken Persian. For classroom use. Supplemented by audio-visual files, documentary films, multiple maps, charts, et cetera. Well-received by Amazon customers. Persian of Iran Today, Volume 1 (2013), 210 pages Persian of Iran Today, Volume 2 (2015), 264 pages By Anousha Shahsavari et al., published by University of Texas, Austin. Described as proficiency-based, multimedia curriculum. For classroom use. Likely CEFR A2-B1. Amazon customer reviews quite positive. Pimsleur Farsi Persian: Levels I, II – Simon & Schuster All-audio, very basic, self-instruction language course. Routledge Introductory Persian Course (2010), 232 pages Routledge Intermediate Persian Course (2012), 288 pages Routledge Advanced Persian Course (2020), 184 pages The first two above by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, the last by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi; published Routledge. Spoken Tehran dialect and formal written Persian. For use in classroom or with a tutor. AUDIO recordings available for separate purchase or as part of a package. Amazon customer reviews mixed. Living Language Spoken World Farsi (2007), circa 270 pages; Random House Same method as Living Language “Ultimate” series: dialogues, excellent notes on grammar, narratives. Accompanied by six (6) AUDIO CDs. Amazon customer reviews vary widely. Nevertheless, a close reading of the negative reviews suggests a lack of experience in second language learning on the part of the reviewers. Virtual Persian: Elementary through Intermediate-Advanced; New York University Online tutorial in spoken Persian. Persian-Farsi Phrasebooks, Language Guides, etc. This list is not exhaustive, it is but a small sample of the numerous phrasebooks and language guides available. 500+ Persian Phrases (Daily Conversations for Better Communication) (2nd ed., 2014), 180 pages, by Nazanin Mirsadeghi; Bahar Books DLI Language Survival Kit Farsi-English/English-Farsi (Persian) Dictionary & Phrasebook (2019), 206 pages, by Nicholas Awde; Hippocrene Books Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook & Dictionary (3rd ed., 2014), 260 pages, by Yavar Dehghani; Lonely Planet Kauderwelsch Persisch (Farsi), by Mina Djamtorki et al.; Reise Know-How Kauderwelsch Sprachführer Persisch (Farsi) - Wort für Wort (14th ed., 2016), 192 pages Kauderwelsch AusspracheTrainerPersisch (Farsi) : AUDIO Recordings Available in German only. Phrasebook and AUDIO recordings (extracts only). Sold separately. U.S. Army Special Forces 200-Hour Farsi Familiarization Course (2007) Emphasis on basic communication needs. The “200 hours” refers to contact time in the classroom. Materials themselves evoke a language guide. In self-study, CEFR A0 upon completion. Persian-Farsi Grammars, Verbs, Written Language, etc. This list is not exhaustive, it is but a small sample of the numerous grammars guides available. ======= Grammar : General ======= Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook (2012), 304 pages Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook (2013), 288 pages Persian: A Comprehensive Grammar (2018), 392 pages By Saeed Yousef; published by Routledge (Francis and Taylor). Amazon customer reviews generally quite positive. Farsi Grammar in Use: For Beginners (2nd ed., 2017), 156 pages, by Reza Nazari ; Independently published Farsi Grammar in Use: For Intermediate Students (2016), 206 pages, by Reza Nazari ; Independently published Persian Online (Reference Grammar); University of Texas The Persian Online website is primarily a pedagogical reference grammar, which is organized by main subjects in the left navigation menu. ======= Verbs ======= 100 Irregular Persian Verbs (Fully Conjugated in the Most Common Tenses) (2013), 334 pages, by Nazanin Mirsadeghi; Bahar Books Dictionary of Common Persian and English Verbs, A (1988, 2005), 308 pages, by Hooshang Amuzegar; Ibex Publishers ======= Specialized, etc. ======= Iranian Languages, The (2012), 960 pages, by Gernot Windfuhr; Routledge Detailed discussion of the linguistic typology of Iranian. To date, two Amazon customer reviews: 5 stars. Trends in Iranian and Persian Linguistics (2018), 308 pages, Corey Miller et al.; Routledge ======= Script, Writing, etc. ======= How to Write in Persian: A Workbook for Learning the Persian Alphabet (2015), 148 pages Easy Persian Reader: Beginner to Low Intermediate Level (2016), 124 pages By Nazanin Mirsadeghi; Bahar Books. Could be considered a two-part course in elementary written Persian. Well-received by Amazon customers. Systematic Guide to Reading and Writing Persian Language: In Naskh & Nasta'liq Styles (2018), 254 pages, by Mitra Ara; Ibex Publishers Guide and workbook with ample exercises Historical background of Persian writing system, styles of scripts, etc. To date, only one Amazon customer review: 5 stars. Persian-Farsi Dictionaries, etc. This list is not exhaustive, it is but a small sample of the numerous dictionaries available. ======= Dictionaries: General ======= Frequency Dictionary of Persian, A (2017), 376 pages, by Corey Miller et al.; Routledge English-Persian Dictionary, An (2nd ed., 2012), 630 pages, by Dariush Gilani; Ibex Publishers Persian-English English-Persian Learner's Dictionary (2006), 317 pages, by Yavar Dehghani; Ibex Publishers Transliterated Dictionary of the Farsi Language (2017), 576 pages, by Reza Nazari ; Independently published ======= Specialized ======= Dictionary of Persian-English Idioms, A (1975, 2018), 402 pages, by Shapoor Ardeshirji Reporter; Ibex Publishers Media Persian (2011), 128 pages, by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw; Routledge Lexicon of the Persian Language of Shiraz (2017), 320 pages, by Mitra Ara; Ibex Publishers Polyglot Shirazi-Persian-English and English-Persian-Shirazi translation guide in one volume. Very favourable academic and customer reviews. Persian-Farsi Readers, Literature, etc. Day in Rostamabad of Shemiran, A, by Mohammad-Ali Jamalzade; University of Washington Online. Story in Persian script with audio recordings. Persian-Farsi Miscellany Ibex Publishers: English & Persian (Farsi) Books Publisher of books mainly in English and Persian. Mission: introduce the language, literature, history, art, culture, religion of the Persian speaking world. Persian Online Academy: Saraneh - Youtube Videos in Persian So You Want to Learn a Language: Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) Resources for Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) EDITED: Major revision: April 2020 1 person has voted this message useful | |
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PERSIAN-DARI
PERSIAN (DARI) RESOURCES: LEGACY Dari Courses, Supplements, etc. Conversational Dari: An Introductory Course in Dari (Farsi, Persian) As Spoken in Afghanistan (1971), 392 pages, by Eugene H. Glassman; International Afghan Mission Introduction to Dari (also known as Farsi or Persian). Pronunciation drills, grammar study, vocabulary development, and exercises. Cultural material. For classroom use. PDF on ERIC website. FSI Dari Basic: Books 1-6 (1971), 371 pages, by A. Hafiz Latify et al. Introductory course in Dari (Kabuli or Afghan Persian). Phonetic transcription avoided except as an aid to pronunciation in the vocabulary sections. For classroom use. Audio-lingual method. PDFs pending restoration on ERIC website Short Course in Conversational Dari (1971), 54 pages, by Eugene H. Glassman; International Afghan Mission Intensive language course in Dari. Originally prepared for medical workers of the International Afghan Mission. Normally requires 10 days' study in a concentrated program. PDF pending restoration on ERIC website. U.S. Peace Corps Intermediate Dari (1966), 188 pages, by M. Ehsen Entser Intermediate course in Dari. In Dari script. Sequel to author’s elementary text “Farsi Reference Manual Basic Course.” Audio recordings not available. PDF document: Yojik and ERIC websites. Dari Readers, Literature, etc. (Legacy) For reasons of expediency, irrespective of their dates of publication, “legacy” readers and similar materials have been listed in the “contemporary” section of this file. PERSIAN (DARI) RESOURCES: CONTEMPORARY Dari Courses, Supplements, etc. Beginner's Dari (2006), 177 pages, by Shaisa Wahab; Hippocrene Books Introduction to spoken Dari. Uses both transliteration and Dari script. Includes two (2) AUDIO CDs. CEFR A1+. Amazon customer reviews quite positive. Conversational Dari: An Introductory Course in the Farsi (Persian) of Afghanistan (5th ed., 2002), 381 pages Surviving in Dari: Vocabulary and Dialogues For Use For Use in Afghanistan To Accompany Conversational Dari (2003), 174 pages Dari Verb Notebook To Accompany Conversational Dari (2003), 119 pages By Eugene H. Glassman et al.; InterLit Foundation. For self-instruction. Introduction to spoken Dari. Exercises, grammar. Eight (8) AUDIO CDs. Transliterated Persian script. Amazon customer reviews quite positive. Dari: An Elementary Textbook (2014), 640 pages Dari: An Intermediate Textbook (2017), 584 pages By Rahman Arman; published by Georgetown University Press. Communicative method. For classroom use. Both course manuals include a DVD with videos filmed in the different regions of Afghanistan and audio by native speakers. Amazon customer reviews generally quite favourable. DLI GLOSS Dari Supplemental materials for reading/aural/oral practice. DLI Headstart2 Dari Familiarization language course. First half, civilian oriented. Second half, mission oriented. CEFR A0+ Learn Dari: Your First Dari Words, Conversation, Reading and Writing (2nd ed., 2015), 224 pages, by Sayed Naqibullah; Independently published Introduction to spoken/written Dari/Farsi. Transliterated texts. Author’s claims of advanced level may be discounted. Includes a CD-ROM; however, there may be technical issues with this component. Amazon customer reviews mixed. Manuel de persan parlé en Afghanistan (3rd ed., 2003), 186 pages, by Mohammad Ali Raonaq; L'Asiathèque Available in FRENCH only. Introduction to spoken Dari. Transliterated texts. Includes two (2) AUDIO CDs. Amazon reviews favourable. Medical Dari (Language Resource in Dari for Medical Professionals With Additional Hazaragi (1968, 2008), 288 pages, by International Assistance Mission Language and Orientation Programme Specialized vocabulary. Of possible interest to intermediate/advanced students. NFLC (National Foreign Language Center) Dari - University of Maryland Collection of graded exercise sets for supplemental practice (reading, aural, occasionally videos). Similar to DLI GLOSS. Access: US$ 5.00 monthly subscription. Pimsleur Dari Persian: Levels I, II – Simon & Schuster All-audio very basic introduction to spoken Dari. Dari Phrasebooks, Language Guides, etc. This list is not exhaustive, it is but a sample of the many phrasebooks and language guides available. Dari-English/English-Dari Dictionary & Phrasebook (2003), 320 pages, by Nicholas Awde et al.; Hippocrene Books Dari / Pashto Phrasebook for Military Personnel (2011), 256 pages, by Robert F. Powers et al.; Rodnik Publishing DLI Language Survival Kit English-Dari Phrasebook for Aid Workers (2006), 536 pages, by Robert F. Powers et al.; Treasure Chest of Languages Publishing Kauderwelsch Dari (für Afghanistan), by Florian Broschk et al.; Reise Know-How Kauderwelsch-Sprachführer Dari (für Afghanistan): Wort für Wort (4th ed., 2019), 176 pages Kauderwelsch-AusspracheTrainer Dari: AUDIO recordings Available in German only. Phrasebook and AUDIO recordings (extracts only). Sold separately. Persian (Farsi & Dari) Phrasebook with Translitration (2018), 59 pages, by Yavar Dehghani; Independently published U.S. Army Special Forces 200-Hour Dari Familiarization Course (2007) Emphasis on basic communication needs. The “200 hours” refers to contact time in the classroom. Materials themselves evoke a language guide. In self-study, CEFR A0 upon completion. Dari Readers, Literature, etc. For reasons of expediency, irrespective of their dates of publication, “legacy” readers and similar materials have been listed in the “contemporary” section of this file. FSI Dari Newspaper Reader, Vol. 1 (1972), 103 pages, by A. Hafiz Latify Designed for use with FSI Dari Basic (Kabuli or Afghan Persian) course. Sample newspaper articles in Dari, accompanied by an English-Dari vocabulary list. PDF pending restoration on ERIC website. Dari Grammars, etc. Dari Grammar and Phrase Book (2010), 164 pages, by Ehsan M. Entezar; Xlibris Modern Dari Grammar (19xx), xxx pages, by Mustafa A. Sayd; Dunwoody Press Dari Dictionaries, etc. Concise English Afghan Dari dictionary (1973), 222 pages, by Jimmy Bedford et al.; Ferozsons Limited Press Dari-English/English-Dari Practical Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012), 731 pages, by Carleton Bulkin; Hippocrene Books English Pashto & Dari Dictionary (3rd ed., 2009), 360 pages, by S. Yarzi; Bay Foreign Language Books Dari Miscellany Ibex Publishers: English & Persian (Farsi) Books Publisher of books mainly in English and Persian. Mission: introduce the language, literature, history, art, culture, religion of the Persian speaking world. Persian Online Academy: Saraneh - Youtube Videos in Persian So You Want to Learn a Language: Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) Resources for Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) EDITED: Major revision: April 2020 1 person has voted this message useful | |
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PERSIAN - TAJIK
PERSIAN-TAJIK RESOURCES: LEGACY None PERSIAN-TAJIK RESOURCES: CONTEMPORARY Tajik Courses, Supplements, etc. Beginners' Guide to Tajiki (2003), 392 pages, by Azim Baizoyev; Routledge Introduction to spoken Tajiki. Includes different colloquial dialects. For classroom instruction No mention of audio recordings. Amazon customer reviews very positive (except for the Kindle version). DLI Headstart2 Tajik Familiarization language course. First half, civilian oriented. Second half, mission oriented. CEFR A0+ NFLC (National Foreign Language Center) Tajik - University of Maryland Collection of graded exercise sets for supplemental practice (reading, aural, occasionally videos). Similar to DLI GLOSS. Access: US$ 5.00 monthly subscription. Tajiki: An Elementary Textbook, Volumes 1 and 2 (2009), 688 pages, by Nasrullo Khojayori; Georgetown University Press Introduction to spoken Tajiki. For classroom use. Each volume includes a CD-ROM that includes authentic AUDIO and VIDEO materials to accompany the text and extra exercises. Three Amazon customer reviews; all 5 stars. Tajiki Textbook and Reader (2nd ed., 2000), 362 pages, by Michael C. Hillmann; Dunwoody Press Out-of-print; copies can still be found by scouring the internet. Only one Amazon customer review: 5 stars. Tajik Phrasebooks, Language Guides, etc. Tajik-English/English-Tajik Dictionary & Phrasebook (1998), 148 pages, by Joseph Conroy; Hippocrene Books Tajik Language: The Tajik Phrasebook (2016), 122 pages, by Gulshan Ibragimova; Independently published U.S. Army Special Forces 200-Hour Tajik Familiarization Course (circa 2000) Emphasis on basic communication needs. The “200 hours” refers to contact time in the classroom. Materials themselves evoke a language guide. In self-study, CEFR A0 upon completion. Tajik Grammars, etc. ======= Grammars: General ======= Tajiki Reference Grammar for Beginners (2009), 172 pages, by Mikael Thompson et al.; Georgetown University Press ======= Grammars: Morphology, etc. ======= Bukharan Tajik (2007), 136 pages, by Shinji Ido; Lincom Europa GmbH Contains transcriptions of recordings of the Tajik language used by Bukharans who have had no formal education in/of Tajik. A large number of linguistic features of Bukharan Tajik are considered … For linguists or other specialists. Tajik (2005), 110 pages, by Shinji Ido; Lincom Europa GmbH Morphology, verbal system, etc. For linguists or other specialists. Tajik Dictionaries, etc. Tajik-English/English-Tajik Practical Dictionary (2008), 326 pages, by Jon Jilani; Hippocrene Books Tajik Readers, Literature, etc. Tajiki Textbook and Reader (2nd ed., 2000), 362 pages, by Michael C. Hillmann; Dunwoody Press Out-of-print; copies can still be found by scouring the internet. Only one Amazon customer review: 5 stars. Tajik Culture, Society, History, etc. History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East (2019), 256 pages, by Richard Foltz; I.B. Tauris Traces the complex linguistic, cultural and political history of the Tajiks, a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group from the modern-day Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajik Miscellany Ibex Publishers: English & Persian (Farsi) Books Publisher of books mainly in English and Persian. Mission: introduce the language, literature, history, art, culture, religion of the Persian speaking world. Persian Online Academy: Saraneh - Youtube Videos in Persian So You Want to Learn a Language: Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) Resources for Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) EDITED: Major revision: April 2020 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
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A couple of free online resources for more advanced learners:
an advanced Persian reader by Michael Craig Hillmann, with 20 pdf reading selections and accompanying audio: http://persepolisinstitute.org/?page_id=143 a reader in Tajik by Razi Ahmad: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/22668/Ah mad_2016_TajikPersian_2.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y and a sketch grammar of Dari for learners by Adam Baker: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/22668/Ah mad_2016_TajikPersian_2.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y https://www.iam-afghanistan.org/lcp/downloads/dari-grammar.p df 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
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For people using studying Persian with Wheeler Thackston's "Introduction to Persian", the audio can be found here: Introduction to Persian audio
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